


Partners Out There

by mrs_d



Series: Songs for the Morning [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Battle Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Public Declarations of Love, Quipping, Team Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-01-05
Packaged: 2018-05-12 01:33:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5648881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrs_d/pseuds/mrs_d
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam’s teasing voice was clear in Steve's ear. “Coming, dear!” </p><p>“Aw, isn’t that sweet,” came Tony’s voice, unfortunately also very clear. “Can I call you that, too?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Partners Out There

**Author's Note:**

> Set a few months after [Early](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5455877). Title comes from [Beyond Late](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5309981).
> 
> Thanks to [Hekkenfeldt](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Hekkenfeldt) for beta.

Steve stared down at the pavement, 90 floors away, but getting closer.

“Uh, Sam?”

Sam’s teasing voice was clear in his ear. “Coming, dear!”

“Aw, isn’t that sweet,” came Tony’s voice, unfortunately also very clear. “Can I call you that, too?”

“Can it, Tin Man,” Steve muttered.

A second later there was a roar from below him, and Steve’s descent slowed as Sam’s arms wrapped around him. The wings went wider, there was a blast of heat, and they stopped, hovering in the air.

“We have got to stop meeting like this,” Steve said with a grin.

Even though Sam’s face was just inches away, Steve only heard him laugh through his earpiece. “You mean you’ve got to stop pissing off aliens and getting thrown off skyscrapers.”

“Well, six of one...”

“You want back up there?”

“If it’s not too much trouble.”

Sam winked. “For you, anything.”

He twitched his shoulders, and the wings angled upwards. They began to ascend to the roof, where a fresh hoard of ugly aliens was just getting warmed up. Tony and Rhodes whipped by, repulsors blazing, and a blast of lightning struck the tower just before they reached it. Steve caught the flash of a red cape swirling in the chaos.

“Oh, hey there, Thunderstruck,” Tony said, presumably to Thor. “We can handle the topside now, Cap. Head to the ground and help Widow herd civilians into the subway.”

“Remind me who’s in charge here?” Steve complained, but he nodded at Sam’s questioning look, and they started descending to street level.

“Uh, you are,” Tony replied, his words punctuated by a series of small explosions on the roof. “But since I'm the reason you’re not a star-spangled pancake right now—”

“Yeah, yeah, thanks for the upgraded wings, you’re the best and all that,” Sam responded as he set Steve safely on the ground near Natasha, who was fighting off a squad of aliens hell-bent on getting into the subway station. “Cap, you want me back on the perimeter?”

“Please,” Steve said shortly.

He sprang into action, clobbering the biggest alien with his fist and tossing his shield at the second biggest. Sam hung in the air nearby, shooting down a few who were trying to surround Natasha and Steve.

“You sure?” he asked. “Looks like you could use me here.”

“We’re good,” said Natasha, taking out two aliens at once with simultaneous headshots.

“Sam, I need you back in the air with Rhodes,” Steve reiterated, punching another alien, who screeched and fell. “Call out patterns, keep the fight contained. And get any civilians trapped up top down to the subway if you can.”

“Aye, aye.” Sam gave Steve a quick salute with his submachine gun, then took off up into the air. “Let me know if you need another daring rescue.”

“And you let me know if more portals crop up before Dr. Foster gets the big one closed.”

He threw his shield again while Natasha reloaded. It bounced off an alien’s kneecaps — if the aliens had kneecaps, he wasn’t too sure about that — and back into his waiting hands.

“Jane?” came Thor’s voice suddenly. Tony must have given him a communicator. “Hawkeye, Witch: how fares the lady Jane?”

“I’m fine,” came Jane’s breathless, irritated voice. “Almost done. I think.”

Steve glanced up at the building kiddy-corner to the one he was just thrown off. A purple-blue glow crackled in the air, and he could make out Jane's slender figure flanked by Barton and Maximoff. Wanda had been working on long-range precision all week, so this attack was her best chance to test her skills, and Clint was her best supervisor.

“Shield,” cried Natasha suddenly.

Steve threw it her way without really looking. She caught it and swung it at an alien who had gotten too close to her, while Steve ran at its buddy, who was trying to lift a car that looked like it had a family inside. Steve dropped into a slide, taking out the alien’s feet.

“And he’s home safe. Score one for the Avengers,” he mumbled, just before the alien landed heavily on his torso.

Steve lost his breath — not at the impact, but at the thing’s stench — and he shoved it aside in a hurry, raising his fist to knock its teeth in, but a red blast hit it first, and it went still.

“Did I get it?” asked Wanda.

“You sure did, sweetheart,” Barton answered.

“Nice work,” Steve agreed.

Since there was lull in the fighting, he opened the car door and ushered the family out and toward the subway entrance. The mother was crying, but she listened to Steve’s instructions and held her toddler tightly, and, when he pointed down the steps, she threw herself at him and clung on, her child squirming against the star on Steve’s chest.

“It’s okay, Ma’am,” Steve stammered, patting her back awkwardly. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

The woman’s husband took her elbow, and she leaned on him instead. He nodded and thanked Steve, then led her and their other child down into the dark stairwell.

“How come the ladies always fling themselves at you?” Clint whined.

“Must be those baby blues,” Natasha commented, tossing the shield back to Steve.

“I got blue eyes,” Clint retorted.

“It’s because he’s taken,” Tony chimed in. “Women always want what they can’t have.”

“I’m just as taken as he is,” Clint complained.

“Can we stop talking about me like I’m not here?” Steve asked, the request shading into an order. “Focus on the task at hand, people.”

“Yeah, listen to my — shit, incoming!” cried Sam. “Steve, on your six.”

Steve whirled, and, sure enough, four more aliens were rushing up, portals sparking to a close behind them. They leapt as one, spreading their webbed limbs and gliding at him like leathery flying squirrels, all teeth and spitting rage. Steve dodged one, only to find another in his face. He leaned back from its foul breath just as there was a bright, hot flare, and Steve found himself next to a pile of smoking goop.

He glanced up, caught a glimpse of red and gold. “You're welcome,” Tony called.

“Nice shot,” Barton remarked. “Bet mine’s better.”

An arrow whizzed past Steve’s ear, close enough that he felt his hair ruffle in its wake, and went into the second alien’s eye. Steve heard another whistle; he ducked, and a red streak blew over his head, made a hard left turn in mid air, and landed straight between the third alien’s eyes.

“Mine is best,” said Wanda.

That left the fourth, who was looking a little alarmed at being suddenly friendless. Steve stepped into his throw, but by the time the shield hit the alien’s armored chest with a solid clang, the alien’s head was missing, having been lopped off by Mjölnir.

Steve swore he could hear Thor’s booming laugh echo outside his communicator, despite him being almost a hundred storeys away. “I believe I’ve won the day,” Thor declared.

Steve rolled his eyes. “I don’t even know why I bothered to show up,” he said. “You guys make fun of me, steal all my kills—”

Natasha looked up from reloading her guns again. “Aw, Cap, don’t be like that,” she teased.

“Yeah, we need you,” added Rhodey. “Otherwise we’d have to take orders from Tony, and who can trust that guy?”

“Hey now,” Tony protested.

“I trust you, friend Stark,” said Thor, sounding vaguely wounded.

“Got more incoming on your location, Tony,” Rhodey interrupted. “A lot of them.”

“Roger that,” said Tony briskly, all business once more. “Cap, if you’re feeling useless, we could use you up here.”

Steve looked up. “Sam?”

“One sec, baby.”

Less than a minute later, Sam dropped out of the sky in front of him, and Steve stepped close. He knew it was battle, he knew he didn’t really have time, but he couldn’t help savoring the feel of Sam’s arms tightening around him again. He breathed in; Sam just smelled so good like this — all sweat and leather and jet fuel.

“Love you,” he murmured into Sam’s neck as the windows flashed by.

Sam’s chuckle was quiet in his ear; if he didn’t feel Sam twitching slightly, Steve wouldn’t have known he was laughing. He was about to ask what was so funny when—

“Aw, Cap,” said Barton sweetly. “I love you, too.”

“Seconded,” cried Tony.

"Third," Rhodey chimed in.

“Hey, I loved him first,” Natasha protested.

“I am rather fond of the good Captain as well,” said Thor.

“I do not know you well enough to say I love you, but—” Wanda began.

“Enough,” Steve muttered, his face hot with more than just battle.

Sam stopped laughing long enough to plunk Steve down on the roof behind a crowd of aliens surrounding Thor, then he flew back up a few feet and folded his wings, using gravity to dropkick one alien straight off the roof. He unfurled the wings again, snapped his guns to his hands, and laid down covering fire while Steve, Thor, and Tony took care of the rest.

When the roof was clear, he swooped low enough to give Steve a quick kiss on the lips. “I love you, too,” he murmured, then he took off again in a rush of wind.

More aliens dropped out of the sky, but Steve went into the fray with a big grin and barely heard it when Natasha started ribbing him and Sam a minute later about being the Avengers’ cutest couple.


End file.
